BJP spits fire at Congress as it chalks out battle plans

The Bharatiya Janata Party launched a multi-pronged attack on the UPA government on Sunday, and will be raising its decibel levels even more in the days to come.

With his second term as BJP president settled, Nitin Gadkari attacked the government on the issue of inflation at a Jan Aakrosh (people's anger) rally in Chhattarpur.

He also took on the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi, urging the people to drive both the central and Delhi governments out of power.

BJP national president Nitin Gadkari being garlanded by party workers

"The Congress government of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh has made the country bankrupt," Gadkari said.

"The government's weak response to terrorism such as their reluctance to hang Afzal Guru has emboldened terrorists. They have bowed in submission before Pakistan.

"The government cannot even ensure the security of our mothers and sisters."

Party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi took a cue from Gadkari and accused the Centre of being cowardly and weak.

"Sometimes I feel that Congress has become a group of cowards (kayaron ki jamaat). I am terming Congress as a group of cowards because repeated terror strikes are happening in the country, terrorists are mushrooming here. They abolished the tool to fight terrorism," he said.

Naqvi was particularly harsh on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was made the vice-president of the party on Saturday.

"In the Congress, the Prime Ministerial candidate is born in a cradle but here (BJP) he is born out of hard work and valour," Naqvi said.

Naqvi announced that the BJP will be launching a nation-wide movement against the government, beginning with a Jansangharsh Sankal Rally in Lucknow on Monday.

STAGE IS SET FOR GADKARI

If everything goes according to the
script, Nitin Gadkari will become the president of the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) for a second consecutive term on Wednesday. The BJP on
Sunday issued the notification for the election of its president and
that nominations have to be filed on Wednesday January 23.

However, this is a mere formality as
there has never been a contest in the BJP's presidential elections. The
notification said that in the absence of a contest, the results will be
declared on the same day.

As has been the tradition in the BJP, the process of evolving a consensus on the party president preceded the notification.